The House began debating H.R. 3962, "The Affordable Health Care for America Act," a little before 11am today. If you were watching C-SPAN, you might be wondering if it's normal for members of Congress to show such disrespect to one another by repeatedly shouting "I OBJECT" over their colleagues. You might also be wondering why Republican Congressmen are so adamantly opposed to allowing women in Congress to speak about gender discrimination in health care.

At this time, the House is engaged in determining the rules governing the debate. It was originally predicted by the Washington Post to be voted on between 10 and 11 a.m., but Republicans have risen to interrupt several Democratic Congresswomen before the Chair.

These women in Congress have risen to insert into the record a brief statement about women's health care issues - ranging from discrimination by health insurers to breast cancer research and treatment - but Republicans in Congress, like Rep. Tom Price, have repeatedly interrupted by shouting "I OBJECT, I OBJECT, I OBJECT," over their women colleagues. You really have to watch it to believe it:

Rep. Lois Capps and other women in Congress were rising to speak on issues that impact millions of American women - and how "The Affordable Health Care for America Act" will address these issues.

Today's GOP behavior follows a longer narrative of Republican disinterest in addressing gender discrimination in health care, including Sen. Kyl's remarks on why insurers shouldn't have to cover maternity care, and the introduction of the House GOP health care bill - which doesn't contain a single mention of "women" in its pages (aside from language on abortion).

Special note: when House Republicans stood up to insert their own remarks to the record, not a single Democrat objected.

A version of the Republican health care bill was leaked today, and it's underwhelming, to say the least. For starters, the draft bill completely ignores women's health care issues. In fact, there is not a single mention of "women" in the entire bill (and "woman" appears just once, in a passage about - surprise! - abortion). By comparison, The Affordable Health Care for America Act introduced by House Democrats has 101 mentions of "women" on 37 separate pages.

What are we supposed to think about all this? Are Republicans betting that insurance companies will fix the gender gap on their own? Will they magically start covering maternity care? Will they voluntarily stop treating rape and domestic violence as pre-existing conditions? Here are just a few other glaring omissions in this draft version of the GOP bill:

• Allows insurers to deny coverage due to "pre-existing conditions" (which, we've recently learned, range from underweight babies to rape and domestic violence victims)


• Allows insurers to withhold maternity coverage and follow-up visits for the baby's health


• Allows insurers to require limitless out-of-pocket costs, which have already resulted in sending millions of Americans into medical bankruptcy


• Allows insurers to continue the practice of "gender rating," whereby insurers often arbitrarily charge women up to 48% more than men for the same policies

This week, some registered Republican voters in Colorado received a survey from the RNC entitled "2009 Future of American Health Care." With health care reform dominating the headlines, it's only natural that the Republican party would want to hear more feedback from their supporters.

The authors of this survey, however, seem completely unconcerned with what Republican voters actually think about healthcare. Loaded with purposefully leading questions and factual inaccuracies--including an inference that reform plans might discriminate against Republicans--this survey is little more then a poorly-disguised fundraising pitch that tries to capitalize on the confusion surrounding the healthcare debate.

(In particular, check out questions #3, #4, #5, #6....er, perhaps give the whole doc a read)

RNCSurvey Healthcare

Perhaps if the RNC truly cared about the voices of Colorado Republicans, they would engage them in thoughtful dialogue at town hall meetings instead of stooping to such misleading and fear-mongering tactics.

SEIU members marched on the Massachusetts Republican Party this week, calling on the GOP to stop its campaign to kill healthcare reform. Their message was simple: stop putting insurance companies over working families.

As SEIU President Andy Stern said to AP this week, "It is clear that Republicans have decided 'no healthcare' is a victory for them. There is a point at which bipartisanship reaches a limit, and I would say it's reaching that limit."

AZ Healthcare Supporters Turnout to Greet Obama
Despite thermometer readings in the triple digits, SEIU along with the NEA, the Teamsters and the UFCW helped turn out thousands of supporters of healthcare reform to a welcome rally and march in advance of President Obama's speech to veterans yesterday in Phoenix. AZCentral.com has some great photos of the event - view them here.

As the House leaves for August recess, the Republican party is pulling out all stops as they misinform the public about the true cost of health care reform. With H.R. 3200, America's Affordable Health Choices Act--which should be exempt from the usual political machinations-- the health and welfare of Hoosiers and folks throughout the country is at stake.

Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana continues to spread false information about the cost of the bill. In an interview on MSNBC, Rep. Pence incorrectly states that the health reform bill would result in "one trillion dollars" in new taxes. Even the news anchor knows something is wrong with Pence's calculations.

Watch the interview here:

Rep. Pence followed up his cable news performance by spouting even more misinformation on the House Floor this week, this time with a new incorrect figure: 800 billion dollars in new taxes.

Folks, we must nip these false facts in the bud. Here's our fact check.

FALSE CLAIM: Rep. Pence Claims Over $800 Billion In New Taxes In House Health Care Reform Bill. Rep. Mike Pence claimed on both MSNBC and the House floor that the House health care overhaul included "more than $800 billion in new taxes."

FACT: Bill Includes Only $544 Billion In Taxes Affecting Only 1.2% of the Population. The surtax in the House health care overhaul bill would actually "raise $544 billion over 10 years- roughly half the cost of the bill - and affect only 1.2 percent of all households in the United States."

So if you're on Twitter-- message Rep. Pence and ask him and his colleagues in the House to read the bill and disseminate the facts.

Paul Begala has an incredibly powerful and persuasive op-ed in Politico today making the case for the Employee Free Choice Act. After introducing nightmare hypothetical scenarios of workers getting fired for trying to organize, Begala pulls back the curtain and reveals the stories are about real workers who were fighting for better jobs.

All of these stories are absolutely true. The stories of Trish Miechur, the CNA, and Corey Kresse, the metalworker, are replicated in boardrooms and factories across America. The story of Ken Lewis, Bank of America's CEO? Well, that's a familiar one, too. So here's the question: Why are their experiences so different? Whom do we want our economic policies to benefit?

For eight years under the GOP, economic policy gave CEOs such as Ken Lewis the gold mine, while giving hardworking, middle-class Americans such as Trish and Corey the shaft. President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress were elected to change that, and protecting employees from corporate abuses is part of the change we need. That's what the Employee Free Choice Act will do.

Corporate lobbyists say the phrase "Employee Free Choice Act" as though it were a curse. But for Trish and Corey, it's a blessing. The point of the Employee Free Choice Act is to say that we've had enough of an economy that works for Ken Lewis -- and Bernie Madoff, for that matter. We want an economy that works for Trish Miechur and Corey Kresse.

The Employee Free Choice Act gives workers an opportunity to bargain with their employers for better job security, wages and health care at a time of astounding corporate greed. The legislation has three main parts: 1) It says that when a majority of workers want to form a union, a real path is provided for them to do so -- a path chosen by workers, not corporate special interests; 2) it penalizes employers who try to fire or harass workers for attempting to form a union; and 3) it says that once workers have voted for a union, employers have to come to agreement with workers on a contract. Simple stuff, right?

So why are corporate interests squealing like a pig stuck under a gate? Maybe because they're the only ones who prospered under the Bush-Lewis-Madoff policies.

But legislative delays don't diminish the moral and economic imperative for sweeping labor reform and as a result, we must continue to call on Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act with majority sign-up. As Begala notes, this popular piece of legislation will get America's economy moving again, so we have no time to lose.

This is a new one.

Imagine you're an insurance company making billions of dollars by charging people tons of money for health care. Now, imagine there's a reform bill in Congress that could end your stranglehold on the market, forcing you to lower your prices and improve your services.

How would you respond? By buying your own think tank to generate anti-health reform studies, of course.

No, this isn't another HAARM plot, this is really happening. Click here to watch the video: seiu.org/lewin

It gets worse. Republicans in Congress are actually playing along. Not only are they citing these studies from the Lewin Group with a straight face, they're using words like "independent," and "non-partisan" to describe it. What they're forgetting to say is that their research firm is "owned by a private insurance company," and "completely biased when it comes to health care."

This is bad - even for Washington. Will you call out the GOP? Use Twitter to tell them to stick to the facts on health care: seiu.org/lewin

This is the most important week yet in the movement to fix health care; we can't waste a single minute with distorted truths and biased stats. Help us put the conversation back on track.

For months, we've highlighted repeated attempts by some Republicans to drive wrenches into the movement to fix health care.  Amidst an outbreak of H1N1 virus, they delayed Gov. Sebelius's confirmation as HHS Secretary. And when Frank Luntz's talking points were leaked to the press, it was clear that the GOP strategy on health care was only to confuse, conflate, and scare the beejeezus out the American public. Time and time again, Republicans have chosen partisan politicking over the hard work of crafting substantive policies that work for the American people.

For the most part, Republicans in Congress have left the dirty work of killing health care to pundits and Fox News anchors. Instead, they've pledged to be working in good faith with Democrats, despite their nonstop battering ram of rhetoric (re: "socialized medicine," "rationing of care" and blaming Canada). 

But now, there's been a slip-up. And not just by any Republican - but by a very prominent Republican leader, Senator Jim Demint, who exposed the Republican plan for what it really is--a plot to block health care reform at all costs in search of a desperately needed political victory. Sen. Jim Demint, on a recent conservative group conference call, said:

"If we're able to stop Obama on this it will be his Waterloo. It will break him."

Make no mistake about it, this is not principled objection to legislation, but cheap, partisan politicking.  President Obama wasted no time in responding directly to Sen. Demint's comments:

OBAMA: Just the other day, one Republican Senator said, and I'm quoting him now, "if we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him." Think about that. This isn't about me. This isn't about politics. It is about a health care system that is breaking American families, breaking America's businesses and breaking America's economy.

Below is the audio version of the quote:

It'll be interesting to watch Republicans explain away Sen. Demint's comments this week. Don't be surprised if you see some members of Congress talking out the of side of their mouth about "bipartisanship" and their so-called support for reform. Demint is only the latest to confirm what we've known all along - that some in Congress intend to kill health care reform strictly for political gain. We can't let them win.

Is it just me, or do our opponents sound crazier every day?

Take opponents of health care reform; they're spending millions of dollars on TV ads that call the President's plan "socialism," "rationing," and "a government takeover." It sort of makes you wonder - where do these people come up with this stuff?

Meet HAARM: Healthy Americans Against Reforming Medicine - www.haarm.org

HAARM is what we imagine is happening behind the scenes of the anti-health care reform movement. An organization dead set on torpedoing any efforts to fix America's broken health care system.

We've even made a video to show what it looks like inside one of their late night brainstorming sessions. Take a look: www.haarm.org

Obviously, HAARM isn't real, but the stuff they say in the video really does come straight out of the Republican playbook. And, with a debate as serious as reforming health care, taking your talking points from Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh is simply unacceptable.

Will you watch the video and share it with your friends? We need to get the message to our opponents that we're not buying their nonsense; it's time for a serious conversation about fixing health care.

Republicans pursue failed strategy attacking Dems on Employee Free Choice

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is planning on going after Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Michael Bennet (D-CO), according to a Roll Call article today. Yet the NRSC seems to have already forgotten the lessons of the 2008 campaigns, in which groups spent millions attacking Democrats on Employee Free Choice only to see those candidates go on to win--with voters approving Employee Free Choice by a considerable margin.

"We thought elephants never forgot, but Republicans have clearly forgotten the lessons of the 2008 elections: attacking Democrats on Employee Free Choice simply doesn't work," said SEIU Political Director Jon Youngdahl. "The fact is, voters see through these misinformation campaigns by wealthy corporate lobbyists. Working families know that when it comes to protecting their jobs and giving them a voice in the workplace, greedy CEOs just aren't on their side."

In 2008, Opponents Spent Millions Attacking Democratic Candidates, But the Democrats Still Won and the Voters Still Supported EFCA

In 2008, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and front groups like Americans for Job Security, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace and the Employee Freedom Action Fund spent upwards of $20 million to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act. This includes more than $6.3 million on TV ads specifically targeting Democratic Senate candidates on the issue in battleground states.

These attacks were completely ineffective. Not only were six of the targeted Democratic candidates elected, but research shows that a majority of voters in these battleground states supported the Employee Free Choice Act by wide margins even after the millions spent by the bill's opponents. A Hart Research survey conducted in November in seven Senate battleground states where anti-Employee Free Choice ads ran found that voters supported the Employee Free Choice Act by a 27-point margin.

Republicans in Congress dusted off John McCain's health care proposal from the 2008 campaign and reintroduced it at a press conference in Washington today. The proposal, which serves as their counter to President Obama's plan for health care reform, replaces the coverage people have with an insufficient tax subsidy that doesn't even cover half of the average family's health care premiums.
From Think Progress:

The plan privatizes the health care system without controlling health care spending. Employers will react to the elimination of the tax exclusion by dropping some Americans from their employer-sponsored health plans and the Republicans build an inadequate safety net to catch the newly uninsured. Americans will have the option of purchasing coverage in the new State Health Insurance Exchanges, should the state choose to establish it. But here, the same problems that plagued McCain's health care plan are also evident in this proposal. The Republicans protect private health insurer's monopoly over coverage, but provide no safety net or affordability measures

The bottom line: this "new" GOP proposal is a blueprint for more of the same failed tactics that spiraled us into a health care crisis in the first place. It focuses on protecting profits when we should be focused on helping sick people get better.

Americans voted down this flawed approach to health care last year. Giving it a new name and reintroducing it again in 2009 is an insult to the millions of Americans who desperately need a change in the way we provide health care.

On Monday, the Senate Republican Conference held an Anti-Employee Free Choice hearing in Washington. The goal? Using the hearing as a mechanism to publicly trash components of Free Choice.

Two small business owners - Terri Monley of Denver, Colorado, the owner of a moving company, and Karen Kidwell, the owner of a pet shop in Bloomington, Indiana - attended the hearing, themselves.

Their thoughts?

Both quickly became fed up with the extreme rhetoric and scare tactics presented.

"They were all of one mind, and they just kept reiterating the same thing," said Karen.

Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah for instance, said that Free Choice "sure seems like Armageddon to me."

Witness Eugene Scalia, a former Labor Solicitor under former President Bush - who must be a Rush Limbaugh fan - suggested that union members would "surround" employees in parking lots if Free Choice were passed.

And Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, who just took office in January, was beyond out of touch, claiming that the American people have a fair system and a level playing field.

Watch Terri and Karen's thoughts here:

The GOP's new chairman, Michael Steele, has been making the media circuit rounds over the last few days. One of his TV tactics has been to throw red meat at the conservative wing of the Republican Party. Take a look at this FOX News interview where Steele reveals he's open to retribution for Republicans who are brave enough to choose the best interests of their constituents over obstruction:

Specifically, Steele singles out Senators Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and suggests that these elected officials were likely to face primary opponents should they continue down the horrible, terrible, and awful road of bipartisanship. The nerve!

Here's what SEIU's national political director, Jon Youngdahl, said to Greg Sargent over at The Plum Line about Steele's diss:

"Threatening Senators Snowe, Collins and Specter at the ballot box for doing right by their constituents and voting in favor of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is exactly the sort of out-of-touch partisan maneuver that got his party in the electoral position it's in now."

"Hundreds of thousands of families in Pennsylvania and Maine consider the tens of billions in aid secured by Senators Snowe, Collins, and Specter a much-needed lifeline in a time of unprecedented economic instability."